Alibaba, JD.com In Bitter Fight Ahead Of Singles Day Event

China’s two largest e-commerce companies, Alibaba and JD.com, are involved in a big cat fight a week before the country’s biggest shopping event. JD.com has filed a complaint with the Chinese antitrust regulator State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), accusing its bigger rival of “forcing merchants” to exclusively deal with only one site during promotional activities.

Is Alibaba using its power to obstruct competition?

Alibaba commands about 80% of the Chinese e-commerce market. If it uses its might to pressure merchants to withdraw from JD.com during the Singles Day promotional event, it would be a big blow to the latter. Recently, the SAIC issued a new regulation that forbids, effective October 1, e-commerce companies restricting merchants from participating in promotional activities on other platforms.

In its letter, JD.com said it had learned from merchants that Alibaba was forcing them to choose only one e-commerce site for the Singles Day (Nov.11) event. If merchants participate in promotional activities on Alibaba’s Tmall, they “are not permitted to sell goods on other platforms.” Else, the Hangzhou-based company “will carry out punishments or sanctions,” alleged JD.com.

Top value fund managers are ready for the small cap bear market to be done

During the bull market, small caps haven't been performing well, but some believe that could be about to change. Breach Inlet Founder and Portfolio Manager Chris Colvin and Gradient Investments President Michael Binger both expect small caps to take off. Q1 2020 hedge fund letters, conferences and more However, not everyone is convinced. BTIG strategist Read More

Alibaba ‘strongly denies’ accusations

JD.com said Alibaba’s behavior obstructs market competition and harms consumers’ as well as merchants’ interests. The two companies are bitter rivals. They are aggressively trying to woo international brands and pushing them to sign exclusive deals, forbidding brands from setting up stores on the other platform. Singles Day is China’s biggest shopping event of the year. Last year, Alibaba recorded $9.34 billion of sales during the 24-hour long promotional event.

In response, Alibaba spokesman Rico Ngai “strongly” denied JD.com’s allegations. Ngai said Alibaba welcomed competition as it benefits merchants and consumers. JD.com was panicking because Alibaba wins with merchants and consumers by offering them a “superior experience.” Rico Ngai said JD.com’s accusations were like a “chicken accusing a duck of monopolizing the lake.” Unfortunately, the marketplace doesn’t believe in tears.

FOLLOW VALUEWALK ON

ABOUT VALUEWALK

ValueWalk.com is a highly regarded, non-partisan site – the website provides unique coverage on hedge funds, large asset managers, and value investing. ValueWalk also contains archives of famous investors, and features many investor resource pages.

The Life and Career of Charlie Munger

You can learn from Charlie Munger firsthand via this incredible ebook and over a dozen other famous investor studies by signing up below:Charlie is more than just Warren Buffett’s friend and Berkshire Hathaway’s Vice Chairman – Buffett has actually credited him with redefining how he looks at investing. Now you can learn from Charlie firsthand via this incredible ebook and over a dozen other famous investor studies by signing up below:

Learn from the best and forever change your investing perspective

One incredible tidbit of knowledge after another in the page-turning masterpiece of a book

Discover the secrets to Charlie’s success and how to apply it to your investing